Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft departed the International Space Station’s at 9:36 a.m. EST after Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir of NASA commanded its release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. At the time of release, the station was flying about 250 miles over the South Pacific just off the West Coast of Chile. For this mission, Cygnus …
NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), Airbus and United Launch Alliance now are targeting 11:03 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 9, for the launch of the Solar Orbiter mission on an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch has a two-hour window. The two-day launch delay was caused by two items that delayed transport of the spacecraft to the pad. The first item was a schedule conflict on Wednesday with a commercial mission launch from a nearby launch pad. The second item was the weather Thursday morning.
A Northrop Grumman cargo ship, dubbed the SS Alan Bean, is set to depart the International Space Station Friday, Jan. 31. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s release will begin on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 9:15 a.m. with release scheduled for 9:35 a.m. With Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir …
Electro-static Levitation Furnace (ELF): The crew removed and cleaned sample cartridge #3 from the ELF and installed a new sample cartridge. The ground then initiated an experiment run. ELF is an experimental facility designed to levitate, melt and solidify materials by containerless processing techniques using the electrostatic levitation method. With this facility thermophysical properties of …
Cardiology, combustion and CubeSats filled Thursday’s research schedule as three Expedition 61 crewmates are one week away from returning to Earth. The Cygnus space freighter is also poised to depart the International Space Station on Friday and complete one more mission. NASA astronaut Christina Koch is nearing the end of her 328-day mission aboard the …
CAL (Cold Atom Lab): The crew inspected, replaced when needed, and reconnected the Fiber Optics Cabling and ports. The CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero, much colder than the average temperature of deep space. At these low temperatures, atoms have almost no …
The Expedition 61 crew’s schedule was packed today as they researched space biology and packed a pair of spaceships for departure. Wednesday morning also saw the deployment of an experimental satellite outside the International Space Station. Blood draws and eye checks are part of the crew’s regimen of biomedical activities to help doctors keep astronauts …
At 4:37 a.m. EST on Jan. 29, 2020, NASA's Parker Solar Probe broke speed and distance records as it completed its fourth close approach of the Sun.
Ultra-cold science and nanosatellites kept the Expedition 61 crew busy on Tuesday while the International Space Station is getting ready for the departure of a cargo craft and crew ship. The Cold Atom Lab (CAL) enables research into the quantum effects of gases chilled to nearly absolute zero, which is colder than the average temperature of …
Refabricator: The ground teams successfully initiated and completed the first of five tensile sample prints using material that was once-recycled on the ground. The Refabricator’s objective is to demonstrate a unique process for repeatable, closed-loop recycling of a polyetherimide/polycarbonate plastic material for additive manufacturing in the microgravity environment of the ISS. Eventually, Refabricator type hardware …
